How to go from Lightroom 5.7 to "Lightroom Classic"

[NormFox]

So I finally bit the bullet and acquiesced to Adobe’s subscription model and bought a Lightroom “plan” with lightroom classic.   I attempted to open my Lightroom 5.7 .lrcat file by right clicking and opening with the freshly downloaded "Adobe Lightroom" app (I'm assuming this is "Lightroom Classic".  "About Lightroom" says it's "Version 8.2") and got an error stating that it’s not compatible and needs to be updated to a Lightroom 6 catalog, but Lightroom six isn’t available for download. 

I opened the new Lightroom Classic application, and it immediately wanted to try and upload to the “cloud”.   When I switched to looking for local folders it refused to look into subfolders and I don’t see the “include subfolders” tick-box like the one shown here:  https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/lightroom-classic-import-include-subfol...  I also see no “Import Photos” menu option.  I'm not sure what "Import Profiles and Presets" is supposed to do.

My hope/goal is to use the new “Lightroom Classic” in exactly the same way I have used the older versions Lightroom.  I only upgraded for compatibility with newer Mac OS versions and Nikon NEF files.   This is on the same computer (2018 Mac Mini) with the Lightroom catalog and images stored on a USB-C connected external HD.  In an ideal world I’d just do what I did when I went from Lightroom 2 to Lightroom 5 and simply imported/upgraded my catalog, which was seamless.  If that’s not possible how exactly can I “import” nearly 30 years of old images into the new Lightroom without having to walk through the Year/Day subfolder structure?  Preferably keeping edits and tags.  Is this possible without using the “Cloud option”.  I’m perfectly fine with and have a strong preference for primarily working locally. 

Thanks

[Per Berntsen · Accepted solution]

You have to subscribe to the Photography Plan to get Lightroom Classic.

You seem to have the Lightroom plan, which only includes the cloud-based Lightroom. (Adobe's naming conventions have caused a lot of confusion)

Contact Adobe support to change plans.

Unfortunately, the Photography plan is almost twice as expensive as the Lightroom plan.

https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html?rghtup=autoOpen

Type agent in the chat box to get in touch with a human.

[NormFox]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.  On the one-hand you are correct that my entire problem is that I installed the desktop version of "Lightroom" thinking it was "Lightroom Classic".   Fortunately, Adobe is no longer forcing you to bundle Photoshop to get "Lightroom Classic" a.k.a. what I've always known and loved as Lightroom.  

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom/plans.html

Correct application is now installed and importing my old LR 5.7 catalog.  Fingers crossed....

[davidminehart]

Have you tried asking ChatGPT for instructions? You’d need to provide all
the hardware and software details you mentioned in your post. I’ve been
impressed at the answers that have been provided.